Internet has a population of two billion

The World Wide Wibble now has a population of nearly two billion people according to the report, from the International Telecommunication Union.

The report says that we will see 2 billion Web dwellers by the end of this year a figure which means that the number of internet users worldwide has doubled in the past five years. Most of the increase is due to users in developing countries signing up.

The report said 162 million of the 226 million new Internet users in 2010 will live in those countries, where Web access is still growing. More than 65 percent of Europeans are on the internet, the report said, compared to less than 10 percent of Africans. The ITU, is an agency of the United Nations that monitors communication technology.

Its report said that high-speed internet connection are increasingly needed to view modern Web content efficiently and are the key to continued growth. Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure said broadband is the next tipping point, the next truly transformational technology which can generate jobs, drive growth and productivity, and underpin long-term economic competitiveness.

Only about 8 percent of the world will have broadband access this year, according to the report.